1970 Thundering Herd: A Short Story

There is themes which is the central idea of a story and then there is universal themes. A universal theme is an idea primarily about an aspect of human life that umbrellas several other stories. Universal themes can be identified through literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors, foreshadowing, and . The stories that will be focused on to recognize universal themes are “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury and “The Interlopers” by Saki. “A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story where a man with the name of Eckels hires a time travel company so he can go back and kill dinosaurs. “The Interlopers” is a suspenseful short story that mainly centers on the plot in which two men who call themselves Georg and Ulrich are destined to kill each other since their past generations hated each other. Both stories main themes are completely different however, they both show multiple universal themes. The universal themes in “The Interlopers” and “A Sound of Thunder” represented by literary devices are all events and actions are important and everyone has limits.

Walking out onto the opponent’s brightly lit turf field setting up for the kickoff of the second half just gave me the feeling that everybody knows, my hair starts to stand up, butterflies began to flutter in my stomach, and everything seems to slow down. Looking into the stands and seeing that our hometown fans had traveled four hours in order to outdo the home crowd gave me a sense of comfort. Looking into East Jefferson’s stands and seeing that our fans, despite having to travel all the way down south, outnumbered their fans by at least 70 people. I found myself thinking that this meant just as much to our town as it did to our school and team. This feeling would be just the motivation we needed in order to finish this game

The next game was early in the morning against region 3 who is known to have some of the best players around nut after the end of the 2nd period we were tied 3-3. “Lets rush the the nat and try to score”, Matt our top scorer said. “No, let's just stay in our own zone and just play defence and not then them score. after we see a weakness we just rush ahead and attack!” said Joe, another player on the team. I didn’t think much of Joe and I voted for Matt’s idea. I shouldn't have. The nest period we got swept off our feet the the south in the dust bowl. We lost

Both Pitman and Turlock High played hard at the Freshman Harvest Bowl on thursday, November 3. Pitman fought hard, but the THS freshman came out with a 27-0 win. After the second half, Joey Deloach, a THS______ said, “Slaughter, they have no chance.” After the last quarter ended, the Pitman admitted defeat, and respectfully congratulated the THS players. Miguel Rios,____for THS, and Deloach both agreed, “The offence played well, and the defence played really well, teamwork is why we won.”

Chapter 1:“Came up short”:”Live downtown,we have the Marsh Eagles VS Tenney Tigers. This is such an anticipated match and one for the ages”. This is what it looked like but in reality it was more like this. “Welcome to Methuen,MA where we have the Marsh Eagles against the Tenney Tigers. This is just 2 teams just fighting for the next spot in the playoffs. Then I walked in and it was game time,the playoffs were on their way. The only real anticipated matchup was me and my frenemy (mostly friends) Andrew Lussier. He's about my height but not athletic compared to me, they came out to a fire start. Then we went on a run of our own and got the game to 2 points and we were rolling. As the half was close to the end,Andrew had a fast break layup

It was week 8 and the Panthers (white) had recently lost to the Panthers (red). Thus, that was the worst season that the Panthers (white) had had in the past 3 seasons. Meanwhile, we did not have a game in week 9, so the coaches, Klinger and Howell, made us practice from 5 PM to 8 PM Monday through Friday. In practice, one day we found out that we were going to play the Dragons. Consequently, we all knew we had to win or we would be the only team that had not won a game by week 10. Coaches Klinger and Howell trained the defense against the offense constantly. Finally, the defense could anticipate the quarterback’s decisions and the offensive line would protect the quarterback long enough for him to throw the ball to a wide receiver. In summary, the coaches knew we were ready to defeat the Dragons.

Going into that game we had convinced ourselves that we had already lost before it even started. We were about as flat as a tabletop. While warming up we were pretty much just waiting for the game to end, so that we could just leave and just call it a year!” Once the game actually started something just clicked. We

In Steve Almond’s essay, “You Knock My Brains Out This Sunday and I Knock Your Brains Out the Next Time We Meet,” he starts off by describing a haunting memory from his childhood. He explains how when he watched Jack Tatum collide with Darryl Stingley, he enjoyed the thrill of the violence, yet felt ashamed about the way he felt because Stingley was now a quadriplegic. He goes on to explain why he felt that way, and also why he still kept watching the game, He talks about his childhood and about how his family seemed perfect on the outside, however behind closed doors they were a troubled family with little boys running around with forks and knives and stabbing each other. He goes on to talk about aggression and how soothing it was. He then moves on to talk about the life expectancy of football players and how they live shorter lives, and that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is common among football players. Almond focuses on how football players suffer long-term brain damage due to the sport. He gives an example of former players saying how they have memory loss and how they see stars frequently. Almond addresses the issue of how the NFL tried to hide the actual facts about what was really going on, and manipulate the players as well. And that even when the truth came out people put

After some initial hindrances, they found hope and strength in Jack Lengyel, they got attracted towards his leadership spirit. Jack was a young coach strong-minded to re-construct the Marshall's football program. Not only this, he also wanted, in the process, help to cover up and make the community move on. Less than a year later, on September 18, 1971, Marshall University's brand new Thundering Herd was poised to perform one of the huge retaliations in collegiate sports. A raw, young at heart and inexpert squadron, reinforced together under the supervision of Lengyel and Dawson. They would disobey crushing chances just to march onto the grid for the first game of school since that hideous accident. That season, it was not of the concern, whether Marshall won or lost. It didn't even matter how they performed in the game. All that mattered was that they took part and made themselves strong enough to play a match again after the ill-fated accident.

‘Okay guys, we know what to expect when facing a team this strong.’ She tells them, ‘Each and everyone one of us has an important part to play in this game and I have no doubt that we will go above and beyond what is expected of us.’ The players nod along with determination at every statment made. ‘Now lets go kick ass and make history!’

Firestar padded through the lengthy ferns as they tickled his flame-colored pelt. He has a worried expression plastered on his face and concern in his emerald orbs. His whiskers drooped as he nudged his way into what was his first StarClan meeting that concerned many of the StarClan cats. He was called by Graystripe to come and meet by the lake but never told the ancient ThunderClan leader what was happening. All the tom knew was that this meeting couldn't be anything well. Had they lost another StarClan cat? Ever since Bluestar's reincarnation gone wrong, the StarClan warriors worried about their family and friends, mostly themselves. Bluestar was fading and planned to be reincarnated but something had gone terribly wrong in the process causing his former mentor to disappear forever.

That’s how long the bus ride took from, my home, Bethel Park Pennsylvania to Omaha Nebraska. Days before we arrived in Omaha, my teammates and I lost the Pennsylvania state championship game. We were the number one seed and a heavy favorite but were upset in a gritty back and forth struggle against a bitter rival. Sometimes it takes a painful loss to make us change our ways. Never the less you win as a team and lose as a team. Nobody believed in our team and were a definitive underdog from day one. We were called “cupcakes”, “an easy win” and “unproven” by other players, coaches and tournament staff. We wouldn’t give up though, we fought adversity as it stood before us and laughed in our faces. Going into the first game we were not scared, we were determined. After all the ridicule and hate, it was time to put our money where our mouths are. The group stages were like a walk in the park for the Pittsburgh powerhouse, as we routed teams from North Dakota, California and Ohio without contest. Proving our worth in this tournament we were no longer considered a “cupcake” we were the beasts from the east. With one of the most explosive scorers in the tournament and clutch brick wall goalie, things were looking up. “Lions don’t lose sleep over the opinions of sheep”. I once saw this quote online and implement it into everyday situations in my life. For instance the “sheep” or the other teams that did not think we deserved to be at nationals

Clink! GOAL! The crowd cheers loudly as the Fox Sports broadcasters announce Priory High School as the ultimate State Champions after a double overtime game in lacrosse. I see everyone running wild, throwing gears, and celebrating; however, my teammates are dead silent as if they've just lost the ability to speak. As we walk back to the locker room, the sound of our cleats against the ground seems louder than usual. The complete silence in the locker room is peaceful and comforting. After everyone had a moment to think about what had just happened, we all gathered together, and our captain spoke, "I love you guys."

Meet the Herdmans they lie, cheat, steal, smoke cigars, and even bully children. They without a doubt the worst kids in the town. Their name where Leroy, Alley, Gladys, Claude, Imagene, and Ralph. They also stuck together no matter what. They lived in a garage basement. The Herdmans didn’t know where their father was. The Hermans father left when Gladys was two years old on a train. The kids mother worked two shifts at the shoe factory so she was not home much. No one blamed neither parents for not wanting to be home with the bad kids. There where a social worker who routinely came to visit the kids and for Christmas she left a basket full of items so the kids may eat and survive.

There are themes which is the central idea of a story, and then there are universal themes. A universal theme is an idea primarily about an aspect of human life that umbrellas several other stories. Universal themes can be identified through literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors, foreshadowing, and. The stories that will be focused on to recognize universal themes are “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury and “The Interlopers” by Saki. “A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story where a man with the name of Eckels hires a time travel company so he can go back and kill dinosaurs. “The Interlopers” is a suspenseful short story that foremostly centers on the plot in which two men who call themselves Georg and Ulrich are destined to kill one another since their past generations hated each other. Both stories’ prime themes are completely different. However, they both show multiple universal themes. The universal themes in “The Interlopers” and “A Sound of Thunder” represented by literary devices are all events and actions are important, and everyone has limits.